Dealing with Malware and Viruses

Introduce learners to best practices for identifying, avoiding, and dealing with malware and various kinds of viruses

About This Module

This curriculum module is based on takeaways from series four of NYC Digital Safety training videos. You may use this module by:

  • Including it in your pre-existing public workshops
  • Combining it with other NYC Digital Safety modules to make a longer data-privacy focused workshop
  • Sharing the handout with library users at various service points

Downloadable presentation slides, a facilitation guide, and a handout can be found below.

Learning Outcomes

By the end of this module, learners will be able to:

    • Distinguish between malware and viruses
    • Describe the ways in which malware and viruses can infect a device
    • Identify approaches for preventing and handling malware and viruses that are on a device

Lesson Plan

This lesson plan is also included in the downloadable facilitation guide below. You are welcome to use any and all of this, or adapt it as you see fit.

This module will take approximately 50 minutes to complete.

Introduction and welcome

Greet learners and review the plan for this lesson

Defining malware and viruses

Review these definitions and pause here for any questions. Make sure everyone is clear on the distinctions between these two

Discussion: Examples of viruses

Ask your learners to share examples of viruses they have seen or heard about, and feel free to contribute your own examples here as well

Malware and viruses

Review the examples and types listed on these slides and pause to see if anyone has any other examples to share or experiences with any of the things listed

The signs of a malware infection

Review the different signs of malware and viruses listed here and pause to see if anyone has experienced any of these things before during a malware or virus infection. If you have a personal example that you feel comfortable sharing, feel free to include it here

Ways to deal with a malware or virus infection

Review the list of strategies here and see if anyone has any questions or needs any clarification about the steps listed

Wrap up, final tips, and final questions

Review the final suggestions and introduce the resources listed. If you have extra time, consider giving your learners longer to explore the links listed in the resources. See if there are any final questions

Next Steps

Download the materials below for use in your workshop or at service points throughout your library.

If you plan to create a longer privacy-focused workshop using these materials, here is a link to Google slides. Feel free to make a copy if you’d like to add these slides to any other deck.

And please let us know how it went! Use this form to share your feedback on this module. We’d love to hear from you.